Niban Chansu
by Kiana Black
Summary: A story of second chances. When Sync died, he was happy. He thought he could finally put an end to his pathetic life. But, things didn't go as he expected and he ends up on Earth, with Ion of all people. AU. Rated for Sync's language. Eventual Sync/OC.


_**A/N: Obviously, AU from game. Actually, the game doesn't even really matter. Ion and Sync end up in our world. The game is no longer important, yes? Just a bit of background - the game 'Tales of the Abyss' doesn't exist in the story, as that would realllly complicate things, ahaha. I don't know how this idea came to me, but I hope you guys like it. It's hard, writing in Sync's point-of-view. He's such a meanie. I love him though, truly. Annnnyway. Again, hope it's okay. **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss or any of its characters. I do, however, own any characters not mentioned in the game, such as Airi, Hanako, Shimizu, Hideki and so forth. **_

_SyncxArietta_

_**Niban Chansu**_

**Chapter One: Second Chance**

"Do you think he's all right?"

_Who's all right? Where am I?_

"Sort of a handsome fellow, isn't he?"

_Who is?_

"Someone needs to call for help,"

_Why?_

"It's on the way. Didn't this happen outside this place a few months ago too?"

_Where? Why can't I open my eyes?_ The voices grew dimmer, or maybe I had just tuned out. I was laying on something uncomfortably hard. I was aching all over my body, for reasons I couldn't quite fathom. _Where am I, damn it? _With a frustrated sigh, my green eyes finally shot open to glare at a cloudy, gray sky. Sky? I thought I died… Concerned faces were all around me and I had an urge to spit at them. Naturally, I restrained myself reluctantly as I forced myself to sit up.

"O-oi, are you all right?" one man with brown hair, wearing strange clothes, asked worriedly. "You've been out for quite a while."

But I ignored him, getting to my feet shakily. I immediately grimaced – it hurt. Was this left over from fighting? "Where am I?" I spat out, my voice too soft for my liking.

"Ah Tokyo, my boy," the man replied.

"I'm not your boy." _Tokyo?_ _Where the fuck is Tokyo? _Tall buildings were everywhere, strange vehicles raced down paved roads while tons of people busily walked on the sidewalks. It was hectic and totally unfamiliar. _This… doesn't look like Auldrant. What's going on? _"Listen," I began, my dark tone making the man's eyes widen, "Do you know a place called Auldrant?"

The man frowned. "Is it in Japan?" he asked in confusion. "I've never heard of it. By the way, why are you wearing that? A cosplay? It's kind of strange, especially in this weather, don't you think?"

I glanced down at my clothes, frowning. I was still wearing the God-General's outfit I'd died in. Now that it was brought up, I did feel rather cold. But I ignored it. "Japan…"

"What's your name? Do you know where your house is? The police should be on their way. An ambulance is coming, as well, just in case you're hurt," the man was rambling but I wasn't listening. "Hey, boy, what's your name? Can you hear me?"

"Shut up, old man," I growled growing tired of the guy's voice. "I'm fine. Go away before I kill you."

The man's eyes widened in disbelief, "W-what? What did you say?"

"Get out of here," I snapped. "All of you." The other onlookers exchanged glances with one another, questioning the seriousness of my tone as well as the menace in my eyes. They decided to believe me and scurried away.

"Fine, whatever," the man muttered. "Sorry for trying to be helpful."

My cold green eyes rolled in annoyance as I sat down cross-legged. _What do I do? Where am I? Why am I alive? Am I alive? _I lifted my arm and winced. My body hurt. Definitely not a dream. _What the fuck is going on, damn it?_

The last thing I truly remembered was fighting with the replica's, Luke's, group… and losing. I'd been defeated and they'd killed me. I was sure of it. So why wasn't I dead? Where was this place? I covered a sigh, shoving a hand through my hair in agitation. I'd been happy. I thought I was finally going to be relieved of my pathetic life. Instead, I wake to find I'm – what? Thrown into another life?

My groan was interrupted by the sound of a door opening, followed by the chatter of young teens. I turned to see who was going to bother me now and nearly gasped in surprise. What the…?

"Are you sure you have everything?" an annoyingly high-pitched voice asked, belonging to a red-haired girl.

"I… I'm pretty sure I do, Kobayashi," the familiar voice definitely matched the face and I narrowed my eyes.

"_Ion_!" I snarled leaping to my feet in a hurry. "You're supposed to be dead, damn it!"

Identical green eyes shot up from a book bag as a boy's mouth opened in a gasp, "S-Sync!"

The mere sight of the Fon Master made me want to gag in disgust. My fists clenched automatically in anger. I despised him. I loathed him. I _hated _him – "Answer me! I watched you die! What are you doing here - Where are we anyway?"

Ion blinked. "This is… Sync, did you die?" the seventh replica finally managed after a moment of silence. His companions were staring between us, two identical boys, in confusion.

I stared at the boy in anger. He was wearing some sort of uniform, all three of the teens were, and his hair was shorter. Feeling pain in my hand, I reluctantly unclenched my fists as I spat, "Yeah. I thought so anyway. But I woke up here…"

"Fujikata! Who is this? Why does he look like you? And what are you talking about?" the girl with shoulder-length, red hair demanded in a whine.

"Ah, Kobayashi … this is… eh… my twin brother, Sync. We… haven't seen each other in a long time. I guess he thought I was dead…" Ion laughed nervously, fiddling with the bag in his hands. "I'll, um, see you at school! I need to take Sync to Mrs. Shimizu! See you!" Ion leapt down the remaining stairs, surprising me since I had never seen him move so fast, grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the building the Fon Master had exited.

"F-Fujikata!" the girl cried after us but Ion hurriedly shut the door. He let out a small sigh of relief before continuing to pull me up another set of stairs at the end of a long hallway. I barely had time to take in my surroundings. Ion finally relaxed when he'd pulled me into a small bedroom with two beds in it.

"Sorry, Sync. This world knows nothing about Auldrant. I had to get away from them," Ion said breathlessly as he collapsed onto one of the beds, dropping his bag on the ground.

The Fon Master heaved a sigh, ruffling his hair once before speaking, "Listen. This is… hard to explain. It was hard for me to take in too… but… this place is called Earth. It's like… another world from Auldrant. I think Auldrant still exists but in another dimension. Stuff like the Score, Yulia or Lorelei… it doesn't exist here."

My eyes widened. _No Score?_

"We can't use our artes. We have no fonons… It's a regular world. But it's a lot different than Auldrant. It's more technology based."

Technology based?

"It's going to take a while for you to get used to it. I had to figure everything out on my own. It's tough, but yet, a lot simpler here than in Auldrant. There's no Score to determine our lives. Of course, this world has problems too. You'll see what I mean eventually."

"So," I said, finding it a little strange to be talking civilly to my enemy, "you came here when you died."

Ion nodded. "I woke up exactly where I'm assuming you did. Mrs. Shimizu – she's the caretaker here – found me and took me in when I told her I didn't know where my home was. She dismissed me as a case of amnesia and basically adopted me into this orphanage. We'll have to do that with you as well. I know you probably don't want to be called my twin, but…"

I snorted, curling my hand into a fist again.

"There's really no other way of explaining it. There's no such thing as replica's here," Ion ignored my interruption, running another pale hand through his green hair.

I couldn't control my temper, "I don't understand! I wanted to die, damn it! Why am I here? Why couldn't I just _die_?"

My idiot replica looked surprised at the outburst and then solemn. "I know. It was sort of like that for me too. I woke up, not angry, but dismayed. I'd accepted that I was going to die but then… I woke up here. I think though… that this is like our second chance, you know? We both had short, unfulfilled lives. It's like we're getting another shot at life. So I think we need to embrace this and try again."

Before I could scoff, Ion went on. "And… things are different here too. I'm not weak anymore. I can run without getting too tired, I can participate in things called 'sports', I can do things I could never do before. I haven't felt sick since I came here… Oh, once I caught a cold…"

_As absent-minded as ever… _I thought as my anger dimmed slightly. I sighed, sitting on the floor cross-legged again. "I don't like this," I mumbled. "I wanted to die."

"Sync…" Ion murmured with pity and as I was about to curse at him for saying my name like that, Ion continued. "Don't be like that. You need to… what did Hayashi-kun tell me? Live life to the fullest… or something like that anyway…"

Closing my eyes, I rolled my neck tiredly. "So what do you do here?"

Ion brightened, the air in the room being relieved of tension immediately. "Well, I go to school. Yes, school. I'm a freshman in high school – which means I'm in my tenth year. Eh… you probably don't understand. But you will. Anyway I play soccer, something called Kendo, and I'm in the Tennis club. They're all fun sports. I…I've made friends – some of them aren't very nice and they all remind me of people from Auldrant in one way or another."

"Sounds boring," I drawled.

The Fon Master chuckled. "Anyway, we'll go see Mrs. Shimizu now. Oh, don't say anything about Auldrant or Lorelei or the Score… or anything relating to our world," Ion stood up and glanced over at me and I opened my eyes. Ion frowned. "Wait. You'd better change." The seventh replica headed to one side of the room, digging through a wardrobe. He came back out with a pair of black pants and a simple white, button-up sweater.

With an irritable scowl, I obediently changed. I figured I'd better be cooperative. I knew I'd need a place to stay, to live, so long as I planned to remain in this world. And I did want to stay. I said I wanted to die, which was true, but I wasn't so cowardly as to do something foolish like taking my own life. Thus, I'd do as Ion said and 'live'_ – again. Damn it…_

When I'd finished changing, Ion smiled wearily at me. "Okay," the boy said slowly. "Let's go. Please be nice,"

I merely snorted in response. We exited the small, plain room to enter a long hallway. It was also plain, painted white. On one side was a railing that when I glanced over, I could see the lobby downstairs. The other side of the large hallway was lined with multiple doors. It was a long hallway and I guessed that every room must be about as small as the one we'd just exited.

Ion led me to the end of the hallway where the staircase was. Downstairs we turned to the left of a large lobby/living room area and stopped at a mahogany door. Ion knocked lightly and a rough female voice told him to enter. The first thing I saw was the delicate, elderly lady seated behind a large desk. The walls were painted a light purple, the carpet dark purple. Every accessory on the desk had purple in it. Was this woman's favourite colour purple? I would guess so. Pictures lined the wall, of different kids of all ages. I spotted Ion's picture immediately, it was closest to the door.

"Ah, Fujikata," the woman spoke, a gentle smile gracing her wrinkled face. Her light brown hair was streaked with gray and pulled into a tight bun behind her head. She wore thin-framed reading glasses that covered smiling brown eyes.

"Good morning, Mrs. Shimizu. Sorry to intrude," Ion began as polite as always. I wanted to gag. "Um… I have someone I need to introduce. This is my twin brother… Sync. Sync Fujikata."

"Twin brother?" Mrs. Shimizu gasped, her eyes flying to me in surprise. Her brows lifted questioningly as her gaze went between us, probably comparing our likeness. "My… I never would have guessed you had a twin. How did you find him?"

Ion laughed lightly, falsely, "He was outside the orphanage this morning. As soon as I saw him, some of my memories came back to me. He said my parents were killed in a fire. He's been looking for me for this past while. I was in an accident, which is why I have no memories."

I was slightly impressed, though I still wanted to gag. Ion was pretty skilled at lying. Had I not known better, I could have believed the clichéd, tragic story Ion was spewing about our 'past'. The woman believed every word, her expression changing in tune with the words. She showed grief, sadness, and sympathy for us.

"…So Sync's been on his own for this whole time, searching for me. I guess it was just luck that I came out right when he was outside. Otherwise," Ion's face fell solemn, "he'd still be looking relentlessly."

"Oh you poor dears," she murmured. The sound of wailing sirens came from outside the window and she glanced at it wearily. She frowned and then shrugged, "Well, there's nothing for it then. Sync will have to stay here with you. I can't possibly separate you two," she laughed slightly. "Twins… never would have imagined. Well, you're lucky you had a room to yourself, Fujikata. He may stay in the room with you. I'll have you excused from school today so that we can get Sync organized and registered with the high school. Oh dear, we'll have to go shopping too…"

As the old lady rambled on, Ion met my eyes and smiled weakly. He didn't like lying, I could tell. It made me roll his eyes in response to the look on Ion's face. Did I really have to share a room with the naïve twit? _Ah Hell, _I thought and clenched my fists to hide the sudden burst of anger. I did not like this – not at all. But, I reasoned with an inaudible sigh, what other choice did I have? I'd have to be realistic. If I wanted to survive in this world, a world I knew nothing about, then I'd have to suck up my hatred for Ion and live with it. There was really no other way.

"Fujikata? Hello?" I blinked as Ion lightly nudged me to get my attention. The old lady was staring at me with a smile.

"Ah, what?" I said rather rudely.

She didn't lose her smile, despite my tone with her. "I'm going to deal with the police and stuff outside and then I'll call the school. You and your brother will be going shopping. I've given Fujikata the money. Have fun, dears."

I twitched. I wished she'd stop calling me that. I never did like pet names and such. Ion saw my clenched fists and hurriedly bowed to the old lady to thank her before ushering me out of the room quickly. She waved to us as we exited, completely clueless to my raging temper. This only fed the fire and I let out a loud groan of frustration as soon as we were out of earshot. "I have to put up with that hag?" I demanded turning a glare to Ion.

"Calm down," Ion murmured, forcing a smile. "She's really very kind."

I shook my head violently, my green hair flying into my face. "She's _annoying_! Ugh!"

"Now, now," Ion reasoned as he grabbed a change of clothes from his wardrobe. "Let's just go shopping, okay?"

I continued to scowl but I closed my mouth and followed Ion for the rest of the day. We had to visit many different stores in order to buy new clothes for me. I lost count on how many we'd entered but I had at least five new – albeit very strange – outfits to wear now. I had a few sweaters, plain shirts and trousers (one pair of something called 'jeans'). When it was nearing late afternoon, Ion tried to take me for a haircut. I protested loudly. I didn't want to look anymore like Ion than I already did.

Ion finally gave up after failing to literally drag me into the barber's. He sighed, shaking his head, "Fine. You win, Sync. I was only going to get you to trim it. People will find the style strange here."

"Won't they find the _colour _stranger?" I threw back, lifting a green eyebrow. I hadn't seen too many people with dark, green-tinted hair around here.

The Fon Master shrugged, "Not really. They assume it's dyed. I've gotten questions."

"Dyed?"

Ion nodded. "Basically you permanently colour your hair. People can have any colour they'd like – even blue."

"I see." I frowned. "That's weird. In Auldrant, someone with pink, green, or hell, even purple hair is natural. _Dist _had pink hair."

"I know," Ion murmured, "but this isn't Auldrant. This is Earth."

I waved him off, "Yeah, yeah."

"Hmm…" Ion seemed to be thinking, running a hand through his hair slowly. "All right. Let's go home then. It's already three-thirty. That means…" he smiled suddenly, "You get to meet the others."

_The others? _I thought but didn't voice my question. Instead, I forced myself to follow Ion back 'home'. My feet were hurting, my head pounding and my muscles still sore. I hadn't yet recovered from the pain when Ion had drug me shopping to begin with. Now I was feeling it worse than before. It was all I could do not to moan from the pain.

"So…" Ion began then hesitated as though unsure whether he should continue.

I grunted, waiting for him to go on.

"How did… I mean… what was going on when you, uh, died?" Ion finally managed, looking ashamed of himself for asking.

I, the strategist of the God-Generals, sighed in frustration. I hadn't wanted this subject to come up, though I knew it would. "I don't know what happened to your friends, if that's what you mean. They defeated me but they still had the battle with Van. Whether they won or lost… I don't know. And frankly, I don't care anymore." It was funny, really. I was starting to feel indifferent about it – Auldrant, the battle we'd had going on, hell, even the _Score_. My anger at life was dissipating the longer I stayed in this strange world and I couldn't bring myself to care at all.

Ion nodded as though sensing my inner turmoil. "It's not really a part of us anymore. You'll get used to living here, on Earth, and things about Auldrant will slowly just… fade away. I'm starting to forget what people I knew looked like. Were Anise's eyes brown or hazel? How many replicas of Fon Master Ion _were _there? Why was the Score so important to everyone? It all just… blurs together the longer I stay here."

I stared at the former Fon Master in a mixture of confusion and reluctant agreement. "I… haven't even been here that long, but I'm starting to… never mind." I didn't really want to open up to my former enemy. I'd never really opened up to anyone before, not even the Commandant or other comrades.

But my fellow replica seemed to understand. He nodded again and released a small sigh, "Well, just don't forget that this is your second chance, of sorts, Sync. Don't waste it."

We had a moment of silence as I reflected on Ion's words before mentally throwing them away as trash. "… That brat had brown eyes. You were the Seventh Replica. The Score… was a load of crap."

Ion stared at me in slight surprise, briefly, before cracking a small smile. "Yeah it was, wasn't it?"

I almost smiled back – _almost_. Never would I have imagined Ion agreeing with me about the Score.

* * *

><p>"I'm home!" Ion called out as we entered the tall, brown building. I struggled with my multiple bags for a short moment before setting them down at the foot of the stairs. Mrs. Shimizu exited the office to our right, a kind smile on her elderly face.<p>

"Welcome back!" she greeted. "Did you find everything you needed?"

Ion nodded. "We did, thank you very much, Mrs. Shimizu."

"I'm glad, child. Sync, we have everything set up for you to start school on Monday. You'll also be in most of your brother's classes so that it may be a little easier. I expressed the need to keep you two together very adamantly. The school knows of your situation and will treat it accordingly," she continued to smile.

I mentally rolled my eyes and bit my tongue to keep a scathing retort back.

"Well, you're just in time for supper. Come meet your new friends, dear,"

_That does it!_ I had only just stepped towards her, my hands curling into tight fists, but the pale hand that clamped down on my shoulder stopped me. Ion… _damn it. Stupid peacemaker!_

Ion gave me an exasperated look, as exasperated as Ion could get, and smiled at Mrs. Shimizu. "We're ready. Thank you again," he said warmly, bowing slightly.

I huffed, irked by the old hag's very presence and by Ion's too polite tone. _Annoying_. Was I going to have to put up with this every day? It would kill me! And if I had to restrain myself from torturing the hag every second of every day I'd definitely go crazy. Damn it. So not happening.

I realized with a start that Ion and the old lady were walking away from me towards a room in the corner of the lobby. I'd yet to have a tour of the place so I was surprised to find that the room led to a dining area with a large rectangular table in it. It had room for about twelve to fourteen people in it and currently there were eight seated there. All of them looked up in surprise at the sight of me, a new person who looked identical to Ion.

"Children! We have a new friend!" Mrs. Shimizu called cheerfully, putting a halt to the chatter. "This is Ion's twin brother Sync. Isn't that nice?"

I twitched. This lady was going to die.

"…Please be nice to him and welcome him as your own! Who'd like to introduce themselves first?"

"My name is Kaori Kobayashi and I'm fourteen years old," said the red-haired girl from that morning as she rose. Her hair was a dark red, falling around her shoulders in waves and her eyes were a deep green – similar to Asch the Bloody's. Her voice was high-pitched and from the way she was blinking and fluttering her eyelashes at me, I knew I wouldn't like her. _Annoying. _

As she sat back down, a boy with shoulder-length messy, blond hair stood up. "My name's Hideki Nakamura – 17 years old. Nice to meet ya," he spoke arrogantly; his brown eyes full of mischief as he sent a friendly grin at me. _He reminds me of that Guy fellow,_ I thought with distaste.

"Rikuto Hayashi," another boy with dark, almost-black hair spoke up quietly, seated beside the blond. "I'm fifteen. Pleasure to meet you."

I nodded. This one didn't seem so bad.

"Hanako Ito!" exclaimed a girl near the far end of the table. She had short, brown hair that fell around her face messily. Her eyes were blue and cheerful but I sensed something about her that put me on edge. "Sixteen. Nice to meet ya!"

A little girl of about six sat beside her, her blonde hair in pigtails and brown eyes staring at me curiously. "Sync! Nice to meet you! I'm Anna!"

The older girl seated on the child's other side was the only one not looking up. Her face was tilted to her plate, where she moved her food around idly. It took the girl named Hanako three tries to get her attention. Dark eyes flickered up, blinking in confusion as she turned her gaze from Hanako to me. "Sorry," she murmured in a quiet voice. "Airi Suzaku, fourteen. Welcome,"

Kaori and Hideki started snickering but Hanako's glare shut them up.

There were two other kids to be introduced, a boy of twelve years and a girl of ten. Neither was special nor did they strike me as memorable. At Ion's light nudge, I dropped my irritable scowl and bit out, "Sync" - what had Ion said? - "Fujikata. Fourteen…" It was hard for me to keep track of my age. It wasn't something I was truly interested in.

Ion took a seat next to the black-haired boy, Rikuto, and gestured for me to sit beside him. Sighing inwardly, I did as requested. Mrs. Shimizu brought a few dishes of what was obviously our dinner in, setting them in the center of the table before removing the appetizers. Only then did I realize how hungry I was. Food had never been a high priority for me, and I'd never truly felt the pang of hunger. But as the scent of meat, steamed vegetables and fried rice reached my nose, my stomach rumbled impatiently. I glanced at the food, surprised at my stomach's reaction and felt Ion glance at me – as if he knew. He probably did, I realized, remembering that he had gone through the same thing.

"So," the redheaded bimbo (Kaori Kobayashi, I corrected) said. "You and Ion are twins."

I blinked. "Isn't that obvious?" I couldn't help but drawl, ignoring Ion's sudden elbow to my ribs. Damn, he'd gotten violent, hadn't he?

Kaori flushed. "I'm just making conversation, Sync," she said sweetly. "How long have you been looking for Ion? It must have been dreadful."

I almost snorted and then caught Ion's warning glance. "It was awful," I smiled tightly, the gesture feeling absolutely absurd. I quickly dropped the smile, figuring it was probably doing more harm than good. "It's been years," I lied. Ion sighed, low enough for only my ears. I grimaced, hating that I was obeying him of all people.

"So, you'll be going to our school right?" the blond, Hideki, spoke up cheerfully. "You into any sports?"

Sports… sports… Ion had mentioned that, hadn't he? If it was something Ion was interested in… "No," I said bluntly.

Hideki floundered for a moment. "Oh," was all he managed.

I stared at my plate of food and then at the two wooden sticks beside me. Chopsticks. I'd never used them before. I watched as Ion used them effortlessly, picking up the food and bringing it to his mouth like he'd been doing it all his life. I scowled and then picked up my own sticks. Haven't they heard of a fork?

Ion must have noticed or sensed my bewilderment. He watched me attempt to pick up a piece of meat with the sticks. I fumbled, trying to hold them between my index and middle fingers. I was failing miserably and my temper was quickly rising. Suddenly, a fork was held under my nose. I looked up at Ion, who was giving me a patient smile. I glared but took the fork from him and immediately scooped a mouthful of rice into my mouth.

"Not very talkative, is he?" Kaori cooed. "That's okay, I like the silent type."

I inwardly gagged. I added her to my mental list of people I want to kill. She could go right under Mrs. Shimizu. I smirked, "I hate redheads. Something about them…" I recalled Asch and his doorknob of a replica… "They drive me crazy."

Kaori reddened, Ion grimaced, Hideki snorted, Mrs. Shimizu gasped and the girl called Hanako roared with laughter. I dropped my smirk and focused on my food again. _Dumb redhead_.

"I'm sorry, Kobayashi," said Ion. "He's slightly… temperamental," Ion tried a smile. "I know you're just trying to be friendly but Sync… he hasn't had a very good life. He doesn't trust people. Please for –"

It was my turn to elbow the idiot replica. "Oi," I hissed, glaring at him. "Don't put words in my mouth. And they don't need to know anything about me."

Mrs. Shimizu coughed. "Well, it's all right. But, please feel at ease, Sync. We're all family now. You can be –"

_Oh hell no. _I was not going to sit there and listen to some mushy-gushy, touchy-feely _crap_. I glowered at my plate, shoving as much food into my mouth as possible. Manners be damned. I wanted to finish eating as soon as possible and get out of there. What a meddling, old hag. I couldn't fathom why I hated her so much but even her voice made me want to kill her, to torture her in the worst way possible.

"Mrs. Shimizu," interrupted the girl, Hanako. "Airi's not feeling well. Can she be excused?"

"Oh? Of course, dears. Suzaku, you're unwell, again? Oh, you didn't eat much, child. Would you like me to make you some soup?" Mrs. Shimizu turned to face the quiet brunette, who had barely lifted her head throughout the entire meal.

"I'm fine, thanks," the girl, Airi, murmured as she rose. "I'm sorry," she added before walking out of the room.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Shimizu cried, worrying her plump bottom lip. "She'll never open up to us, will she?"

Hideki snorted, "She's a robo-girl, Mrs. Shimizu. She feels nothing. Don't waste your time on her."

"Shut up, Nakamura!" Hanako yelled, standing abruptly. "You have no idea what Airi's been through, do you? I swear to _God_, if you don't leave her alone, I'll _curse _you!"

The blond boy held up his hands defensively, "Sorry, sorry, ghost-girl. Please don't curse me," he snorted and Kaori snickered.

I was almost finished my meal and I couldn't be happier. Would I have to listen to this everyday? There was no way. I would not survive there. Not a chance. I scooped my last mouthful of rice into my mouth as Hanako and Hideki continued to bicker, with Kaori throwing her two-cents in as well. Yeah. I was so done. I stood, pushing my chair back loudly. Ion looked up at me but I ignored him. I ignored everyone, said nothing, and left the room.

Seriously. They'd all been alive longer than I had and yet they were that immature? Ghost-girl? Curses? Robo-girl? I found my bags at the foot of the stairs where I'd left them and picked them up. I managed to carry all of them again, cursing Ion for making me get so much stuff, and made my way up the stairs.

But once I reached the top, I realized I had a predicament. Call me the smartest (self-proclaimed) of the General-Gods, but I could _not _remember which room I was to stay in with Ion. _Well, shit. _

So I did the only thing I could think of, aside from going back there and lowering my pride enough to ask for Ion's help. _That _was not happening. So, I tried to find it on my own. I knew I'd recognize it when I saw it, so I tried the doors. The first two weren't it but I was feeling pretty confident about the third one. I turned the knob, awkwardly because of my bags, and pushed the door open.

_Ah, damn. Not the right one. _

This room was obviously a girl's room. And I would say three stayed in here. There were three small beds in the room and on the bed closest to the window… I met a pair of dark, ebony eyes. Airi, I remembered her name was, stared at me in surprise from her position on her bed. She set aside the hardcover book she'd apparently been reading and stood up, clearly feeling uncomfortable. Well, I may as well save myself the trouble of looking through the rest of the rooms. "Where's my room? I'm staying with Ion," I said curtly, rudely, not apologizing for entering her room. Why should I apologize?

She blinked and then walked towards me. She slid by me into the hall and pointed to two rooms down. "That one," she murmured.

I only nodded in thanks before striding past her, trying to appear confident despite being weighed down by so many bags. I fumbled with the blasted bags for a moment but then her hand was in front of me and she opened the door for me. She said nothing, didn't wait for me to thank her. She merely walked back towards her room.

_Weird girl_, I thought in distaste before entering my room and dropping the bags with a sick satisfaction. I closed the door behind me, stripped out of the uncomfortable pants I was wearing and crashed onto the bed on the left. I assumed it wasn't Ion's, since it looked like it had never been slept in. The other one, while neatly made, still held signs of being slept in.

Oh man, this felt like the longest day of my life. Mind you, I'd had a short life but _still. _

Why couldn't I just die?

* * *

><p><strong>End of first chapter. <strong>


End file.
